An advanced stage of mobility is emerging. Combined with the IoT, geolocation data and social, mobility is becoming the hub for all enterprise communications.

Building Next-Generation Mobile Frameworks

Designing and building a next-generation mobile framework is not a simple task. There's a need to do more than simply mimic features, approaches and practices that other companies use, says Capgemini's Fross.

Innovation and disruption are the foundation for creating an authentic value proposition. Yet, when an enterprise taps the right combination of technologies—camera, microphone, GPS, AI, sensors and more—and creates value for users, the mobile paradigm changes dramatically.

For example, this might allow a travel agency to introduce voice searches for flights, hotels and tours based on natural language. The user simply recites the cities or airports, the date and preferred airline or type of hotel, along with other preferences, and the system serves up the relevant information.

This technology might allow a bank to use facial recognition for authentication, and let customers use eye blinks, hand gestures or speech to control functions, including account transfers and bill payment. In every instance, "The goal is to drive interactions through touchless capabilities controlled by AI," Ramaswamy explains.

In this brave new world, success requires an enterprise to combine the expertise of technologists, data scientists, line-of-business employees, partners and others. Mobility must be in lockstep with agility and flexibility.

"It's important to think very broadly about what mobile is and what is now possible in automobiles, medical devices, wearables and more—especially when these systems are connected to smartphones and other mobile devices," Ramaswamy says. It may also be necessary to plug in cloud capabilities, including AI-as-a-Service functions offered by the likes of Amazon Cloud Service and Microsoft Azure, or functionality from IBM Watson.

Capgemini's Fross says that while the terms context and personalization may be somewhat overused in today's business environment, they are at the center of mobile transformation. "It's important to create the right experience for a customer, based on their particular preferences, patterns and behavior," he explains. "It is critical to provide a great mobile experience because the opportunity costs for not doing so are incredibly high.

"It's a digital arms race, and mobile is on the front lines of delivering the experience consumers, employees and others increasingly expect."